The Hard Life of Kitties at My House

Here is Snowball in the beautiful cradle my dad built for my baby dolls and stuffed animals when I was a little girl



Talon loves his kitty

Finished Crochet Projects

Here are several things I have made or finished lately. Talon's sweater was one I made last year, and it was huge on him. I finally put buttons on it. Not bad for one of my first tries at sweaters, and he is happy with it, but I see lots of imperfections. My mom gave me all the yarn for the sweater. Talon's favorite color is yellow.

The granny square afghan in blues/greens/yellow was for a friend's baby shower this week. It was so soft and warm. She loved it. Yay!! This was yarn from my Aunt Sandy :)

The baby afghan variegated pink yarn is available/for sale in my new Etsy store (see sidebar) Yay!!! I just wanted to try a new pattern and love how it came out. This is more yarn from my Aunt Sandy :) (Aunt Sandy, I am working really hard to use up that yarn, but I think it will take a while)

The stocking and the two white scarves were orders I got after the Holiday Bazaar. I think they both came out wonderfully.

I love the holiday season, and love giving gifts....praying you are all safe and warm and full of God's peace.

Bazaar Happenings

Just a glimpse of the fun I had setting up a booth at a local Christmas Bazaar. I do have a few things left, so if you see something you are interested in, let me know. My friend Jennifer made the awesome aprons, and she does custom orders. Please go to her Etsy site and support her, too. 100% of your purchase at her Etsy shop goes to support Ichthyosis research and education. Ichthyosis is a rare skin disorder that her daughter has.
Not shown on there are 3 gorgeous full size aprons that sold on Saturday. She also made the beautiful aprons the girls and I got for Christmas last year :). Also, did you catch a glimpse of my pretty girl wearing a hat that I thought was a dud. After adding 8 pom-poms and 2 tassels, Natasha loves this hat :)






who knows? Maybe I will open an online store to sell my extra items...what do you think? I have snowflakes, the baby quilt, potholders, and a scarf left. (though I am making more scarves)

edited 2.20.11: etsy shop is now open. Click here to go to my KittenYarn shop or click any of the pics on the sidebar from my shop. Slideshow was not working on this post so I took it off and put pictures instead. The silly hat I made that Natasha loved so well ended up being perfect for her as she was the Jack-in-the-Box for a Christmas play. You can see a pic here on Facebook hopefully.

Bits & Pieces

What do you do with your bits and pieces?






Here is what I decided to do....




Ta-Dah!!

Wet soap not being crumbled down the drain by small hands, in a little pretty washable pouch :)

The soap pouch is actually from a pattern set called Heirloom Sachets from the book 101 Fun-to-Crochet Projects. Also from this book I am working on these Enchanted Snowflakes

Every little bit and piece you do and say can count for something or it can be wasted. Too many times I find myself wasting words, things, and time. May we all be mindful of the opportunities around us, not to be wasters, but rescuers. Let us rescue even things that seem small and unimportant. It may be a person you end up rescuing. Small things can become eternal things.

What will you do with the bits and pieces in your life?

12.14.10 update: the children discovered for me that it is still possible to violently squeeze wet, gooey little chunks of soap out of this (aren't they sweet product testers?), so this has been washed and put away for the moment, and will probably be used as a sachet (as the original pattern prescribed). As a side note, I will probably still save bits and pieces of soap so I can try cooking up a batch of liquid soap (recently read a recipe online somewhere)....or at least I will scoop them up out of the soap dish before they get lovingly jammed down my drain :)

p.s. curiouser and curiouser... here is the quote of the day that was posted at the bottom of my blog

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and,

as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story.
Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Girly Afghan

very happy with this newest baby afghan I made....very soft and pretty

A while

It's been a while. I have missed you. We are busy with school right now. Contemplating field trips. Eliana is doing gymnastics. Tasha is doing tap and jazz. Talon gets to go to story hour at the library. Add in the fun of jury duty for me a couple of days a week. Oh, wait, I almost forgot art classes for the girls. It's going to be a wild, yet strangely relaxing semester. I really, really love the start of school. I love buying new school supplies. Ask my mom. I have always loved school. In fact, I am kind of surprised I am not still in school. Ok. Kidding on that one. I am mulling over and toying with the idea of taking some sewing classes again. At least I have fun reading through the descriptions every semester.

Instilling a love of learning in children is one of the most valuable things you can do for a child, I think. I have always loved to learn. Not sure how my parents did that, but thank you Mom and Dad. Mom, how did you guys do that, anyway?

Oh, here's something funny. I have to stop Tasha from reading books to do things like go to bed, eat, finish her schoolwork. Ha ha ha ha ha ha...I have created a little me. She is sooo like me in that. I just need to surround her with good books, and away she'll go. :)

It seems that there was something else I was going to say. Hmmmm..... yeah. nothing. I guess I can always come back later and fill you in, when I remember.

as for now, woke up with this song running through my head:
My heart sings a brand new song
The debt is paid, these chains are gone
Emmanuel, God with us...........
Like hinges straining from the weight, my heart no longer can keep from singing

if you want to hear the entire song on youtube, click here:

MercyMe/God With Us/All That Is Within Me

Dirt Guy

This is Talon's Dirt Guy. He got him at Vacation Bible School. Talon gave him a nice haircut right after this pic. Dirt Guy's head, which is made from pantyhose, was filled with seeds and dirt. We soaked his head in water for about 10-20 minutes, then set him in the sun. We saw happy sprouts within a few days, and a full grown head of "hair" not long after that. Lots of fun. I think we will be recreating this fun activity with the girls, and maybe try different seeds for different kinds of hair :)

Pretty in Pink

Here are some pictures of one of the two matching baby afghans I made for a friend who is having twin baby girls. Thank you to my Aunt Sandy for all the beautiful yarn!!!! I will be busy for a long time :)

Good. Great. Wonderful

Recently, during family night, we sat down to watch What About Bob? Funny movie. Every morning Bob says, "I feel good. I feel great. I feel wonderful" over and over to himself. What a great way to start the day! I am already a morning person, and this would be a great addition to my morning routine. Ok, ok, so I don't really have a routine per se, but it sounds really good when you say it together. Try it. Morning routine. See, don't you feel better? Anyway, something weird and miraculous has been happening in the world of me lately. I have been managing to get my bed made every day. And...I have been having this weird urge to get all my dishes washed and sinks cleared before I leave the house. Pretty cool. I like it.

Recent highlights:
Talon is now 3 and is a repeater. Catch him at the right time and he will say everything you say. At least if you are Eliana. So, watch what you say :). Wiggles, cars, trucks, Spiderman, Transformers, some of his current favorites

Eliana is 6 and can't decide whether she is not growing up fast enough or is growing up too fast. She mourns the fact that her teeth are just barely wiggly, and is not encouraged by the fact that she might be able to sing, All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth, by December. Energetic and extremely athletic, this strong beautiful child will either lovingly pick you up or climb your walls (literally)

Natasha is 8 and wow, she is a reader. No, wait, she is a book devourer. Give her a book that she likes, and you'll have a friend for life....or you could just invite her to play Scrabble :)

We recently started family movie night up again, and I love it. What About Bob? was a diversion. We are currently working our way through all the Star Wars movies (nevermind that we've only seen the first one...here is where I will not go on a diversion and discuss whether we watched the first chronologically made Star Wars or otherwise). :) Your only clue is that all the girls want to dress up like Princess Leia, including me, hahahaha

Oh, wait, I have more good news. The guy who mowed my lawn last week didn't mow over all my hibiscus plants or black eyed susans. Triple Yay!!!! Daylilies are blooming. One yucca bloomed early, the other one is indecisive. My hostas are getting ready to bloom, too. Did I say, Yay! Yay!!!! Well, gotta get this show on the road.

I feel good.
I feel great.
I feel wonderful.

I feel good.
I feel great.
I feel wonderful.

you try it :)

KittenYarn is...

thinking about fathers today. Another friend at church has lost her father-in-law. The anniversary for my father-in-law's death was just a few days ago, on Feb. 17. It has been 2 yrs since my husband's daddy William McKinney has been gone. We really miss him. Another friend wrote about the excitement of a small child waiting for their Daddy to get home from work. I remember standing by the door waiting for my Daddy to get home from work. Sweet childhood memory. I see my children's excitement and love for their Daddy as he comes in from work. It is as it should be.

I think of all the wonderful things my father taught me, though the few words typed here cannot really capture it all. I think of patience for untangling knots and polishing wood with the grain. I think of drawing flowers and cleaning the kitchen floor. I think of the fun and silly things my dad did when I was small. Somewhere my mom has a picture of my dad hula hooping and riding my brother's little bike down the street. I think of the sweetness and joy of watching my daddy teach my children too.

I know it is nowhere near Father's Day, but I am thinking about fathers. Maybe it is because of this habit of mine to always think of my heavenly Father when I get up in the morning. I think about His love, and how His words in Zephaniah say that He is rejoicing over me with singing. I am thinking about how all fathers are different, and how glad I am that my earthly father was chosen just for me by God, perfect for me.

I know that not all earthly fathers are perfect. Who of us is perfect? Not one of us. I thank God that even if our earthly fathers fall short of our expectations, He is creative enough to give us the love and nurture we need, one way or another. I am thinking about those whose fathers are just not there for their kids, who maybe cause them great pain and anguish by hurting them or deserting them or just not being there.

I thank God that we can be there for each other, no matter where our past has brought us from. I firmly believe that all of us can have a bright and loving future. I certainly thank God for my earthly father and my heavenly Father. They are both perfect for me, and I love them.

Spring is in the Air

The kids and I went out this morning to squish through the yard, and we found many signs of spring. First we saw my tiny yellow and purple crocuses poking through the soil. We found soft green moss, and huge mud puddles. After we came back in, Eliana found an earthworm in her pocket, so I had to take that back outside. While I was making lunch, they all drew pictures in their notebooks of things they had seen/done outside. Tasha's picture showed a T-ball in the middle of my baby plants. Eliana drew a pic of an earthworm on my crocus who had just eaten and a leaf and was "pooping". Talon drew a yellow earthworm too :). While they ate lunch, I googled "how to make an earthworm habitat" as I can see that in our near future :).

Eliana is loving her ladybug habitat, and one of her larvae is already in the pupa stage. Natasha is loving her crystal mining kit, too. The first crystal she found was an amethyst.

I am working on some special requests for Eliana's birthday. She said Green Bunny needs a party dress and some other clothes. My first try at crocheting bunny a shrug and skirt turned out to fit last year's crocheted monkey instead. Monkey looks very festive in her red and aqua outfit. I am working on a mint and pale yellow bolero for Ana, too. Other than that, I have been using up my cotton yarn making potholders. I did make a little white baby sweater, too, recently. I was so excited that it fit my friend's baby perfectly. Just in time for springtime and Easter. Yay!!! Happy Springtime! Now to start some seeds inside with the kids :)

Birds

It has been so nice to watch the birds passing through our yard this week. Though they were timid at first, the birds devoured one of the orange bird feeder snacks I hung in the tree. I found it on the ground completely empty. They ate all the peanut butter, raisins, and bird seed in there. It was much easier for tiny birds like the chickadees to eat from the orange feeder but I did see some bigger ones trying to balance on there and eat, too. I couldn't get a pic, and I couldn't find a pic to match in my bird book, but one bird that kept coming back was very pretty. It was greyish with a lighter colored belly and long tail feathers. It seemed to have a dark stripe across its eye and did have a white stripe on its wings. It reminded me of the pic of the Northern Shrike in my book, but my mom thinks it was a mockingbird. She was probably right....(ok, I just googled it, and my bird looked very much like the picture here. This is a Northern Mockingbird. Good job, Mom! Do you get these at your house?)

Over the course of the week, I saw a whole group of pregnant robins, lots of cardinal pairs, chickadess, bluebirds, junkos, a tufted titmouse, and what looked like a house finch. It had brownish colorings that reminded me of a female cardinal but its beak and crest were different and it had a reddish belly.

I was really happy to see as many birds as I did considering I am out of bird food now and I didn't know if they would like the orange feeder. I know my mom and dad get tons more birds at their house, including hummingbirds, but I just have one little feeder right now and am glad to see whoever decides to stop by.

For the Birds

We are getting ready for the Great Backyard Bird count and decided to make some snacks for the birds. Within the last week I have seen bluebirds, junkos, cardinals, robins, chickadees, and some other pretty birds. We saw these orange bird feeders in my mom and dad's Birds 'n Blooms magazine and thought we'd try it. We were almost out of birdfood, so it was pretty simple. I hope the birds like it. We just put in peanut butter, birdseed mix, and raisins. Our tabby kitty TigerGirl is running quickly on the porch because her paws are cold. At the end of the post are long belated Christmas pics :)

The 80s are Back

Today, after I took down Ana's barrette and brushed her hair, she said, "I look like I'm in the 80's!"

(and she did)

This is how her hair looked after I put the barrette back in :). Apparently the 80's are coming back

Sunshine

Had a few extra minutes before everyone got up this morning and made myself a sunny yellow potholder....

First Winter Snow

I forgot I took this video with my new camera right after Christmas. This was the first snow we had. We got a lot more snow the second time, at least 5 inches. I didn't get any video of that today, but the kids had just as much fun. In today's 5 inches of snow, we ended up making a Miss America snowman :), in honor of tonite's pageant.

Living History Night

Our homeschool group had a Night of Living History. My girls were excited! Natasha was Laura Ingalls Wilder and Eliana was George Washington. Wish you could have been there to see how cute they were giving their speeches!! A friend took this pic. If mine had been working properly there would be pics of their presentation boards too. I am sooo proud of them!!! I love you, girls! you guys will have to forgive me as I am having fun playing with the free backgrounds from the Background Fairy :)

Scotty's Place: Post #1000!

Scotty's Place: Post #1000!

Wow, check out all the beautiful Works in Progress (WIPs) this person has. I am amazed!!!!

Jan 2010

Life is short

Keep it simple

Nothing is more important than really loving people

I am taking things slowly

I am talking softly

I am treasuring every moment

I am being thankful for you